Remember November

The “tea party” movement can carve yet another notch in its (hypothetical) pistol grip. The election of Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts to Ted Kennedy’s long held seat sent a tremor through the DNC, and a warning to the RNC. Now, at Utah’s GOP nominating convention, incumbent Sen. Bob Bennett came in a distant third behind other Republican candidates. A political earthquake has been rumbling, and with Sen. Bennett’s demise (and Orrin Hatch’s future in doubt as well), that quake is thankfully growing in intensity. The TEA movement has been instrumental in several election campaigns, despite losing only a few more. The next Tea Party target is, I understand, the Kentucky Republican establishment.

According to University of Wisconsin political scientist Charles Franklin, "The tea party movement has achieved a prominence in the conversation in part because of the silence from the traditional elected Republican leadership, and now that leadership has been driven right by tea party rhetoric." Perhaps so, but as far as I can see, the Tea Partiers are a big chunk of the “Silent Majority” that’s been lurking in the shadows for decades. The difference now is that they finally got fed-up with the business as usual runaround in Washington, and are finally making their voices heard. Franklin went on to say "That has moved the party in the tea party direction, but it can't help but also bring the tea party a little bit closer to the political mainstream." No, I don’t think they ever left, they just got almighty tired of the shenanigans. And the “TEA Party” isn’t a political party as such, or at least it’s about as disorganized as any organization I’ve ever seen! It’s purely a “movement”, much the same as the Ron Paul supporters were, and I’d guess it appeals to many of the same people.

And you just know its effects are being felt across the political spectrum, particularly when the Democratic Governors Association is hysterical calling the Tea Party a “political terrorist” organization. ‘Course if I was a member of the Democratic Party, I guess anybody that didn’t agree with me about Mr. O’s “change” could be considered a terrorist. At least that sounds like something that team Obama would come up with. The Democratic Governors Association is demanding that the Republican Governors Association remove an online video that the DGA claims glorifies domestic political terrorism. "In light of the dangerous overtones of their radical 'Remember November' video, we are calling on Haley Barbour and the Republican Governors Association to put a stop to this ad now," Nathan Daschle, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, said in a Huffington Post statement. The RGA had opened a website, “RememberNovember.com” that used the story and symbolism of 17th-century British radical Guy Fawkes, an anti-government terrorist who attempted to blow up the Parliament and kill King James I. The RGA video did not promote political terrorism, just the concept of a sweeping change in government. RGA spokesman Mike Schrimpf said "The DGA deserves an Oscar for their wild imagination and faux outrage. The only thing incendiary about the video is their response."

The best I can determine is that the key words the Democrats find offensive are "Remember November"... and that couldn’t possibly have anything to do with upcoming elections, and some changes in Washington now could it? No, it makes much better press to think of “POLITICAL TERRORISM” launched against the democratic majority in congress. After-all, the Democrats are the party of victims (real or imaginary) and replacing a few democratic incumbents makes them yet another group of victims! But then Mr. Obama’s well known idea of "fundamentally changing" America is in no way, shape, or form "Political Terrorism" because "the One" knows so much better than "we the common people" do about what’s best for us.

Sen. Bennett isn’t a victim of the Tea Party, but rather he’s a victim of his own wistful thinking. A veteran conservative, influential in the party's inner councils, and tossed out in large measure because he voted for the financial bailout legislation of 2008 in defiance of the voters wishes (and later stated that he’d have voted the same way even if he’d known it would cost him his seat). Some people have said they were unhappy with Bennett’s co-sponsoring legislation requiring individuals to purchase health insurance, while others noted he had once pledged to serve only two terms.

Establishment politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, seem to think that if they take care of themselves and a few vested interests that all will be well. They forget that the vast majority of the unwashed masses (read “electorate”) don’t own large parts of the stock market or investment banks. We’re not impressed with government failures such as the FEMA response to Katrina or the fluttering of hands and panicky search for scapegoats. In particular we object to the insinuation that we’re to dumb to see that government is busily taking life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness away from us. We object to corrupt officials and special treatment for any elected official. Many of us, including myself, object to government intrusion into our private lives, which government is increasingly prone to do.

A memo to RGA and the Tea Party folks might read: “No backing down. Are the Democrats the only ones allowed to rally to a cause, to protest, to try and make change, and have it be genuine? If anyone else tries it I suppose, like say… the tea partiers, I guess its just misguided political terrorism from the Radical Right? The Left hates bare-knuckle politics because it’s effective and they want exclusive rights to its use. Perhaps the left is indeed terrified… terrified that a good chunk of the American population has finally woken up, and are concerned that the nation is heading down the wrong path. Perhaps they’re terrified that they may actually have to answer for their legislation and policies. Or perhaps they’re just terrified for their political careers.”

“Remember November” does sound like a threat I guess, to any politician that consistently ignores the wishes of his (or her) constituents. Still, I rather like the old TV show punch line “No threat, just a promise”.